nondescript in blue

Sunday, October 30, 2005
Spent 3 hours this afternoon wandering around the suburbs of Providence gawking at the fall foliage, kicking up leaf litter, surreptitiously plucking the occasional pretty leaf off a conveniently low-hanging branch.

It got dark pretty quickly, though. The days are getting shorter, and I had to turn my watch back one hour today. Daylight saving time is a concept I am trying to bend my mind around.


[edit]More photos are up on Flickr. =)

(3) comments

Friday, October 28, 2005

Have laptop, will travel

Friday night again. To cap it all off, it's Halloween weekend. My roommate is carving pumpkins in our room with her friends, and so I no longer have a nice, quiet place to unwind and do work, or even a chair for that matter. I am definitely going to get a single room for myself next year.

Friday night has got so exciting that I have removed myself - together with my beloved laptop, my Six Feet Under DVD from Netflix, assorted computing paraphernalia, Japanese textbook, notebook and homework - from the room that is not quite mine, and set off on a quest for the perfect Friday night refuge.

And I have found it. Keeney Quadrangle has a study room with carrels on the top floor of Mead House, which is completely deserted most of the time and according to my roomie, is 'creepy at night'. Oh, not at all. I think it's perfect. It's well-lit and comfortable, there are Ethernet ports and power outlets, the clean and efficient decor, the privacy of the carrels and the lack of noisy company all agree with me. As a bonus, I do not have to put a single foot out of Keeney and brave the 4degC autumnal chill just to find a decent place to study.

It's so cold that I've taken to putting tubs of yoghurt or bottles of milk out on the window ledge (in front of the storm window, behind the mosquito screen) at night. In the absence of luxury household appliances, one has to improvise. Besides, it's helpful to think of the freezing cold as a resource instead of my nemesis.

(6) comments

Saturday, October 22, 2005

I have this friend from Hong Kong, and the way he talks, anyone would think that he is a China-supremacist. I had dinner with him and 2 other PRC students, plus a non-practising American Jew of Eastern European ancestry, during which he expounded on his anti-Korea philosophy. It was disturbing, but I had fun doing some friendly sparring with him. Stimulating conversation is stimulating conversation, regardless of the content, and in my socially deprived state I can't afford to pass up on any opportunity to interact with my fellow human beings. Besides, this is America, home of the free, and people can say any damn thing they want, so I might as well treasure the chance to sample a variety of objectionable speech. The more disturbing, the better. I might not agree with them but I certainly wouldn't refuse to listen.

(2) comments

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

It's getting cold and I like it not one bit. Thanks to the climate, I've developed a new reaction to stress - uncontrollable shivering. It used to be that my body responded to exams with appetite loss, nausea, dry retching, diarrhoea, or inconvenient periods of lethargy. But last night, while trying to tackle the twin horrors of multivariable calculus and genetics mugging for midterms, my body gave up trying to rein in the stress hormones - my hands started shaking. The rest of my body followed suit. I could hardly hold a pen properly, or concentrate on math; I couldn't stop laughing, and I got so hysterical I offered to balance a chemical equation and worse still, I got it wrong. It was like OD-ing on stress-induced adrenaline.

I never did that sort of thing before. My body never did that sort of thing to me before. But that was then (oh for the humidity and warmth of home), and now, thanks to the gusty Providence winds (that cuts right through your clothes if you don't have a windbreaker on) and the falling temperatures, it's happening a lot more often.

(5) comments

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Maine and New Hampshire were GREAT. Despite the near-constant rain and chilly weather, despite the mud and the puddles. The scenery was insanely picturesque. We had great food. It was fun, fun, fun all the way.

Behold, photos!

(5) comments

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Going to Maine for Columbus weekend. Drooling at the prospect of photographing autumnal prettiness.

Thomas Newman is a god. I love my headphones. And I think I'm slacking off when I really should be going over the notes for the last genetics lecture I dozed off at.

(8) comments

Brenda - resolutely dedicated to a life of tedious stability and relentless obsession,
stuck with a mental age that is increasingly failing to keep pace with physical age.
Addicted to methyxanthines, NSAIDs, monosodium glutamate, instant gratification and certain forms of mindless entertainment. Now with a newfound addiction to pretty sweaters, online movie rental and solitary urban hikes in foreign countries.

random feature.

people.
03S71 | amanda | christina | jieying | judith | wan jun | woon teng | xin min | xuwen | you heng | yuhui

sites.
my photos @ flickr | mini-treatise on caffeine | brown university | tomorrow.sg | metaphilm | wikipedia

credits.
blogskins | greene_sprit

archives.
07/01/2003 - 08/01/2003
08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003
09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003
10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003
11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003
12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004
01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004
03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004
07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004
08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004
09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004
10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004
11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004
12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005
01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005
02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005
03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005
05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005
06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005
09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007

entries;

profile;

shouts;

plugs;

past;